Last thursday, I turned twenty ______ and because my boyfriend wanted to go to the Reebonz sale at Clifford Center, I requested that we go to the Black Swan (19 Cecil St, Singapore 049704) for lunch as I have always wanted to try it out.
He tried to make a reservation a day before but it was fully booked so they advised us to go down when their doors are open to try our luck. We went in at 11.30am and were seated at one of their high tables.
The first thing I liked about The Black Swan was the ambiance. The moment you step through the double doors, it's like you are transported back into New York or Chicago in the 1920s.
I also love the waitresses' outfits. I was telling my boyfriend it's one of the best looking service uniforms I have ever seen in a restaurant (don't get me started on the 'maid' uniform at Lawry's *shudders*). The uniforms makes the waiting staff look so pretty and classy for the ladies and suave for the men. The second thing I liked about this place is how this place is situated next to one of the busiest junctions in CBD and I don't hear a SINGLE sound coming from the traffic outside. It's like I have effectively traveled back in time. The tinted windows also helped to effectively cover the traffic outside.
Now onto the third thing I like about this place. THE FOOD.
The Black Swan serves an executive lunch set where you can choose between a two course ($32+) or three course meal ($38+). The prices are dependent on what you order. Say you order the $38 set but you want to add in the foie gras, that will add another $8 to your set. You can see the full lunch set menu
here for a better idea.
The first course I had was the Char-grilled Beef Tartare. I have always wanted to try steak tartare and I finally got the chance to..albeit it's slightly grilled! (Ok, I know steak tartare have to be like RAW but this is the closest I can get to it!) It is put on a bed of diced pears and served with toasted bread. I LOVE this dish. This is the taste, imagine sashimi with sesame sprinkled over it with the sweetness of the pear blending with the meat. It shouldn't work, but it does. I lapped up every single bit of this.
The second course was the Chilean Seabass with quinoa, bacon jam (the itty bitty yellow sauce surrounding it) and diced beetroot.
Another dish worth trying if you love fish. I have tried fishy tasting seabass and blah tasting one before. This dish somehow manages to grill the seabass until the texture and taste ended up like my favourite cod-fish meat. It's so fresh. I'm not a fan of beetroot but somehow the quinoa and the beetroot combination works and it left a slightly sweet taste in my mouth. The bacon jam went well with the quinoa and the seabass meat. It had a slightly smoky yet sweet aftertaste. Interesting.
The final dish is the Dark Chocolate Dome with a little bit of edible gold foil on the top.
If you are a chocoholic like me. THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED.
The berries at the side is FRESH. I am genuinely impressed, because a lot of dessert dishes that comes with berries, the berries always feels 'out of juice' and overly preserved. I don't know how The Black Swan keeps their berries so juicy and fresh, but whatever they are doing, they are doing it right.
Finally, we got to the chocolate dome. I love the flaky base of the dome.. I don't know what it's called (and I have been dying to find out but this kind of chocolate dome base is so hard to come by) but I really love it. The dome itself is filled with chocolate until you hit the center where the vanilla creme melts with the chocolate.. oh heaven. Definitely a dish I will try again.
The total damage done for the both of us was about $140+. My boyfriend ordered the foiegras, the Black Swan burger and also the chocolate dome (didn't snap photos of it). The still water was quite expensive.. it costs $9 a bottle. The service was good... just that I did get a little irritated with one of the staff who kept asking us while we were in the process of eating our dishes, how were things. I get that the staff is trying to be hospitable but to ask how were things during each course... I felt it was a bit of an overkill because personally, I feel it makes more sense if they ask us how is the food and all that DURING or AFTER our final course. Not during EVERY course. But oh well, I guess she was trying to be nice? Overall, if given the opportunity to go back to the Black Swan for a meal, I will definitely go back because I do like the ambiance and the food!
We headed down to the Reebonz sale and went for some window shopping before we settled for some high tea at Tom's Palette at Shaw Theater building at Beach Road (
100 Beach Rd, Singapore 189702). I have heard MANY rave reviews about this ice cream parlour and I have been dying to try it. When I got there..like wow, look at the flavors!
One of the ice cream Tom's Palette is famous for is their Salted Egg Yolk ice cream. I tried a sample of it and it does taste like cold liu-sa-bao. But what I ultimately ordered was their Parmesan-cheese and crackers ice cream. I just liked the taste better. My boyfriend got the Stout Chocolate (alcoholic). We paid $4.20 for two scoops which is worth it!
The stout chocolate tastes like chocolate with a Guinness stout aftertaste. My boyfriend is not a fan of alcohol to begin with but he made an exception with this because it tasted so good. My Parmesan-cheese and crackers ice cream tasted like Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake without the strawberry and a stronger cheese flavor (the parmesan bits in the ice cream I guess). I am now making plans to go back to Tom's Palette again just for their salted egg yolk ice cream next time.
After that we headed to the Waterloo Times for dinner with the family. Talk about eating all day. Oh my goodness.. but it was a lovely way to spend my birthday.. eating where I want to try and ending it with a meal with my parents.
